Moderators

Depending on a community's moderation settings, Moderators act as gatekeepers, approving or disapproving new members and new ideas, and may edit certain front-end community settings. IdeaScale supports four Moderator types — Community, Campaign, Custom Field, and Translation — each scoped to a different level of content or a different part of the platform.

Role Permissions

1. Community Moderator: Approves or disapproves ideas, comments, and members across the entire community when the community's moderation level requires approval; has access to all Reporting reports.
2. Campaign Moderator: Approves ideas and comments only within the specific campaigns they are assigned to as Moderator; has access to Reporting for their own assigned campaigns along with all public campaigns.
3. Custom Field Moderator: Moderates idea responses to the specific custom fields on the Idea Submission Form they are assigned to, including standard user and moderator-only profile answers; has access to the Reporting app.
4. Translation Moderator: Reviews and verifies machine-translated ideas and comments, and provides translations for generated content such as custom field questions, and community and campaign titles and descriptions, when real-time translation is enabled for the community.

Community Moderators

A Community Moderator moderates across the entire community. When the community is set to a higher level of moderation that requires approval of ideas, members, and comments before they go live, members holding this role are authorized to make those approvals.

IWhen a community has more than one Community Moderator, all Community Moderators see the same pending queue — every user, idea, and comment awaiting approval appears in each Community Moderator's queue, and any one of them can approve or disapprove an item. Community Moderators also have access to all reports from Reporting.

Assign / Unassign Community Moderators:

Members are assigned or unassigned as Community Moderators from Member Management. Search for the member by name or email address, select the checkbox next to their name, open the Actions tab, and choose Add as Moderator, then select Community. To unassign a member, follow the same steps and choose Remove as Moderator.

Campaign Moderators

A Campaign Moderator approves ideas and comments submitted under the specific campaigns they are assigned to as Moderator. This role does not moderate members — only ideas and comments.

A Campaign Moderator may be assigned to one or many campaigns, and the Moderation dashboard shows only the campaigns to which they are assigned. A Campaign Moderator has access to Reporting for their own assigned campaigns along with all public campaigns.

Assign / Unassign Campaign Moderators:

Members are assigned or unassigned as Campaign Moderators from Member Management. Search for the member by name or email address, select the checkbox next to their name, open the Actions tab, choose Add as Moderator, select Campaign, then choose the campaign from the dropdown. To unassign a member, follow the same steps and choose Remove as Moderator.

Custom Field Moderators

A Custom Field Moderator moderates ideas with responses to specific custom fields used on the Idea Submission Form. Each custom field's answers can be assigned to the same Moderator or to a different one. Custom Field Moderators moderate both standard user profile answers and moderator-only profile answers.

A Custom Field Moderator has access to the Reporting app.

Assign / Unassign Custom Field Moderators:

Members are assigned or unassigned as Custom Field Moderators from Member Management. Search for the member by name or email address, select the checkbox next to their name, open the Actions tab, choose Add as Moderator, select Custom Field, then select the required checkbox. To unassign a member, follow the same steps and choose Remove as Moderator.

Translation Moderators

Translation Moderators are required only when real-time translation is enabled for the community. These Moderators review and verify machine-translated ideas and comments, then provide translations for generated content — including custom field questions, and community and campaign titles and descriptions — from the Moderation Dashboard.

An Administrator must set up real-time translation in the community before Translation Moderators can be assigned.

Assign / Unassign Translation Moderators:

Members are assigned or unassigned as Translation Moderators from Member Management. Search for the member by name or email address, select the checkbox next to their name, open the Actions tab, and choose Assign as Translation Moderator. To unassign a member, follow the same steps and choose Remove from Translation Moderator.

Exceptions

1. Community Moderator Assigned: The member automatically gains Campaign Moderator privileges across the community and cannot be separately assigned as a Campaign Moderator.
2. Workspace Administrator in Community: A Workspace Administrator who is part of a community is automatically added as a Community Moderator for that community.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can more than one Community Moderator approve the same pending item?

Yes. When a community has more than one Community Moderator, the pending queue is shared — every user, idea, and comment awaiting approval appears in each Community Moderator's queue, and any one of them can approve it.

Can a Campaign Moderator see or moderate campaigns they are not assigned to?

No. A Campaign Moderator's Moderation dashboard shows only the campaigns to which they are specifically assigned. Their Reporting access, however, extends beyond those campaigns to include all public campaigns as well.

Is a Translation Moderator required for every community?

No. Translation Moderators are only needed when real-time translation is enabled for a community, and an Administrator must set up real-time translation before Translation Moderators can be assigned.

Can one member moderate every custom field on the Idea Submission Form?

Each custom field's responses can be assigned to the same Moderator or to a different one, so custom field moderation can be split across multiple Custom Field Moderators or held by a single member, depending on how each field is assigned.

Related Articles

• Help Article for Member Management
• Help Article for Moderation Dashboard
• Help Article for Reporting
• Help Article for Real-Time Translation